Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson left behind only twenty-nine songs and seven months of recording sessions, and somehow that was enough to become the axis the entire blues world still turns on — a haunted, virtuosic guitarist and songwriter whose crossroads legend has almost eclipsed just how good the records themselves are.
House was Johnson's direct mentor around Robinsonville, Mississippi — famously unimpressed by the kid at first, then astonished when Johnson came back playing like a man possessed. Johnson even borrowed House's song title outright for one of his own.
listen forPlay House's Preachin' the Blues, then Johnson's own Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped the Devil) — a direct namesake, with Johnson tightening House's raw, sermon-like intensity into something sharper and more compact.
Robert Johnson idolized Lonnie Johnson's records, and on his smoother, jazzier sides you can hear him reaching for that same clean single-string lead sound instead of the rawer Delta slide style.
listen forListen to Lonnie Johnson's melodic single-note runs on Mr. Johnson's Blues, then Robert Johnson's own tender, understated Malted Milk — a rare gentle moment where the Delta bluesman sounds like he's been taking notes from the jazzier guitarist.
Patton was the Delta's founding father, the guy whose percussive, growling attack on the guitar set the whole region's template — Johnson grew up in that world, absorbing Patton's rhythmic drive at second hand through the players around him.
listen forHear Patton's rough, propulsive stomp on Pony Blues, then Johnson's own driving, percussive Terraplane Blues — same insistent rhythmic engine under the guitar, just cleaner and more controlled a few years on.